Furniture supporting element and floor guard



30, 1955 G. R. LAURE 2,716,255

FURNITURE SUPPORTING ELEMENT AND FLOOR GUARD Filed Aug. 10, 1953 INVENTOR. GEORGE ZfiU/FE United States Patent FURNITURE SUPPORTING ELEMENT AND FLOOR GUARD George R. Laure, Ka amazoo, Mich.

Application August 10, 1953, Serial No. 373,205

1 Claim. (Cl. 16-42.)

This invention relates to a molded floor guard for a furniture supporting member and especially to a type of furniture utilizing bent metal rods or tubing for support members, and it relates particularly to a type of floor guard which is readily moldable from either synthetic or natural organic plastic material which can be readily snapped into operating position and which will not normally be removed during normal operation.

In the use of furniture having bent metal tubing or rods for supporting members, such as tables and chairs, there has long been the problem of properly guarding such members when they are caused to rest upon polished floors. Usually the support members of such furniture extend downwardly, are bent in a reverse curve of upwards of 300 degrees and often have a lower end of such form as to make difficult the use of conventional floor pads or floor guards. Further, since such furniture is commonly interchanged in use as lawn furniture and porch furniture, or is for other reasons frequently moved from place, to place, it is desirable that the floor guard be of such character that it will stay with the furniture as it is moved from place to place.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide a floor guard which is readily and inexpensively moldable from either synthetic or natural organic plastic materials and which will stay with a given item of furniture as same is moved from one point of use to another.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid which will have an attractive appearance.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, which will be readily attachable.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, which will be readily detachable.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, which will fit closely to the supporting member of the furniture itself and will not be conspicuous.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, which can be molded inexpensively.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, which, while normally staying with the furniture with which it is used as same is moved from place to place, can nevertheless be removed if desired without marking the furniture or without destroying the guard for subsequent use as desired.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with devices of this general type upon a reading of the following specification and inspection of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of a guard of my invention in position of use.

Figure 2 is a central longitudinal section of my guard showing the manner of its interfitting with a furniture supporting member comprising a reversely bended metal bar.

2 Figure 3 is av section taken on theline III-III of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a top, view of my improved guard.

Figure 5 shows a modification taken on a section corparallel sides 1 and 2 which sides are connected by rounded ends 3 and 4. Said sides are further connected by a similarly rounded bottom 6.

The walls of the device, excepting for portions of the parallel sides as described further hereinafter, are of substantially equal thickness so that the external contour thereof is similar to the internal contour thereof throughout all of the device, excepting the above men tioned portions of the side walls. The internal contour, as appearing in Figure 2, is shaped to fit closely against the convex side of a bent metal leg A, which may be assumed to be supporting a table, chair or other desired furniture. Said section A may be either rod or tubing but is here assumed to be rod for illustrative purposes.

The upper central portions of the parallel side members are provided with opposing thickened portions 7 and 8 which, as best shown in Figure 3, are preferably shaped longitudinally to conform to the concave side of the bent rod.

The lower portions 9 and 11, respectively, of the raised portions 7 and 8 are preferably curved cross-sectionally to substantially fit, in cooperation with the rounded bottom 6, more than of the cross-section of the rod A.

In afiixing the device to the rod A, it is merely pushed onto same from the bottom. The rounded lower portion of the rod A extends between the raised portions 7 and 8 forcing them sufiiciently apart to permit passage of the lower part of said rod A therebetween. When said rod A reaches the position shown in Figures 2 and 3, the sides 1 and 2 will snap together and the raised portions will engage enough of the upper part of said rod to hold the guard in place thereon.

Figure 5 illustrates a cross-section similar to that shown in Figure 3 and showing the adaptation of the present invention to a furniture supporting member having a rectangular cross-section. It will be noted that in this structure the surfaces 9a and 11a, corresponding to the surfaces 9 and 11 appearing in Figure 3, are still blended taperingly into the adjacent portion of the side members In and 2a. In this way the guard member is readily removed from the furniture supporting part B by pulling same downwardly in the same manner as with respect to the form shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive.

It will be evident that the guard will stay in position under all conditions of normal use of the furniture but at any time desired it can readily be removed by merely pulling it downwardly away from its position of use.

While one specific embodiment of the invention has been chosen for illustrative purposes, it will be apparent that a variety of modifications may be made from the particular form shown and illustrated herein but which modifications will still embody the present invention. Accordingly, the hereinafter appended claim should be taken as covering such modifications excepting as said claim may by its own terms expressly require otherwise.

I claim:

In a furniture supporting device, the combination comprising: a furniture supporting element of rod-like form bent through a curve of more than 270, a one piece floor guard mounted on said furniture supporting element around the bend therein, said floor guard having a pair of substantially parallel side walls, end walls joining the side walls and a bottom wall connecting the side walls and being rounded in a longitudinal direction, and a pair of raised portions extending towards each other from the opposed surfaces of said side walls, said raised portions being located above the upper surface of the furniture supporting element where said device is bent, said raised portions being shaped to con form to the shape of the concave side of the furniture supporting element, the edges of said raised portions blending taperingly into the adjacent portion of said side walls, said side walls, bottom wall and end walls together contacting said furniture supporting device around the entire convex side of the bent portion of said element and through more than 180 ofits circumference.

References Cited in the file of this'patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 993,805 Tallman May 30, 1911 1,781,583 Hodgson NOV. 11, 1930 1,893,910 Silverman Jan. 10, 1933 1,969,958 Alder Aug. 14, 1934 2,222,336 Domellof Nov. 19, 1940 2,583,702 Meyer Jan. 29, 1952 2,649,611 Muszynski Aug. 25, 1953 

